QuEra Computing and Roadrunner Venture Studios have entered a $4 million strategic partnership to deploy a neutral-atom quantum testbed in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The initiative, situated at the Roadrunner Quantum Lab (RQL), is a component of New Mexico’s $300 million state investment into its quantum economy. As part of the agreement, QuEra will establish a physical operations center in Albuquerque’s Innovation District and hire full-time personnel to manage on-site infrastructure and workforce training.
The partnership involves the launch of two primary facilities intended to facilitate hardware validation and commercial development. The Photonics and Optics Testing Center (POTC) will serve as a specialized laboratory for prototyping and validating laser systems and photonic components for neutral-atom arrays. This center includes calibration tools for verifying beam stability and single-atom interaction parameters. Simultaneously, the Classical Compute User-Access Facility will host server infrastructure to support secure, low-latency processing for hybrid quantum-classical workloads, providing remote access to vetted academic and industry partners.
Neutral-atom quantum computing utilizes laser-trapped atoms as identical qubits, providing specific advantages for hardware validation. By leveraging QuEra’s existing platform, researchers and startups can iterate on optical components without constructing independent experimental setups. The testbed will serve as a technical proving ground for the Roadrunner Quantum Coalition, which includes partners such as Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the University of New Mexico.
The testbed is designed to provide accessible hardware for validating industrial-grade components, with the goal of reducing development timelines for quantum-enabled technologies in defense, logistics, and materials science. The facilities are scheduled to launch in late 2026, initially opening to national laboratory and academic partners before expanding to the commercial startup ecosystem.
Read the official announcement from QuEra Computing here and Roadrunner Venture Studios here.
February 2, 2026
